STARKVILLE – Mississippi State freshman Jack Bauer made his return to the field at Dudy Noble Field last week after missing most of the action in March as the team began SEC play.
On Tuesday, Bauer recorded three straight strikeouts in just his fourth inning of work this season. Despite the preseason hype and the high recruiting rating, the freshman is taking his development seriously and putting his head down to improve his game.
“It’s just trying to be the best version of myself every single day,” Bauer told the media on Tuesday. “When I come to the field, even if I’m not up that day, especially when I was working on the mechanics, cheering on the other guys and wishing the best for them. We’re a collective as a staff, (at our) best when we’re all the best versions of ourselves.”
Bauer’s powerful pitching presence was felt when he committed to MSU, and even before he had thrown a ball at the college level, he was rated as the No. 1 freshman by both Perfect Game and D1Baseball and named Preseason Freshman of the Year by Baseball America.
But through two months of baseball, Bauer has just 4.2 innings under his belt.
It hasn’t been for a lack of work ethic, and certainly not a lack of talent, but head coach Brian O’Connor has been careful with the opportunities for Bauer as he works toward becoming more of a regular out of the bullpen.
“I feel like the past couple of weeks, I learned a lot more about my body and how to control it, and I’ve grown exponentially,” Bauer said. “Each time I get out there I feel like I’m learning something new, and it’s great to learn from the other pitchers as well.”
Bauer worked on his mechanics with pitching coach Justin Parker, developing his off-speed arsenal more.
“A lot of it was riding the bounds,” he said, “using the slope and using my momentum a lot more instead of relying on my arm strength.”
The freshman made three early appearances, recording five strikeouts in two innings, but allowed two earned runs and three hits. In Arlington, Texas, Bauer came in against Virginia Tech with a big lead and gave up three runs. He didn’t throw another live game pitch for nearly a month as he worked on his game.
Last week he made his first appearance since February, tossing 1.1 innings and retiring the side in a strong outing against No. 11 Southern Miss. This week, he struck out the side in the third inning against Grambling State, brushing just under triple digits.
But it wasn’t just his fastball. Bauer was showing more control and more variance in his pitches, something he hopes to continue expanding while finding consistency on the mound.
“I’m trying to be the best complete pitcher I can,” he said. “The focus isn’t always velocity, a lot of it is pitchability and making pitches and executing pitches. The stuff’s always going to be there for me, I don’t need to force it, the majority of focus is on execution.”
“Building blocks and stuff like that, stacking opportunities with Jack,” O’Connor said Tuesday about the coaching staff’s approach with the freshman. “You know, I’ve mentioned it here before, that we didn’t have him pitch in a game for about a three-week period, and that was intentional. To make some delivery adjustments, and the young man made those adjustments.”
O’Connor has spoken highly of Bauer since his arrival, and despite limited opportunities, he continues to see a plan unfolding for the freshman to become a key contributor for the team. The more games the Bulldogs win, the more games they’ll play and face schedule congestion down the road.
“This is back-to-back Tuesdays that he’s went out, and been efficient,” O’Connor continued. “He’s executed, he’s been clean. It’s looked really good, and that’s great for our team, as we’re, you know, just past the halfway point. As coaches, you do what you have to do to win the game in front of you, but you also take into account where you want your team to be two weeks, four weeks, eight weeks down the road. And we developed a plan for Jack Bauer, and the initial stages of it are working well, and he’s gonna continue to stack those opportunities and hopefully be a real asset for this team down the stretch.”
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